The Doors 'Bad' Shows.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]Not all Doors gigs went exactly as planned....here are some notes from ones that went awry[/glow]....

June 5th 1970, Seattle, Washington
This Seattle performance is undoubtedly one of
the most difficult and regrettable shows of the 1970
tour. For unknown reasons, there are obvious
hostilities between the audience and the Doors from the
moment the band takes the stage. After the icy
reception, Morrison seems withdrawn and remote throughout
the show. The Doors' last appearance in Seattle (at
the Pop Festival) had not gone well and may have
contributed to the fact that only one-third of the available
seats in the 15,000-seat Coliseum have been sold. There
are long pauses between songs that last up to nine
minutes, and the catcalls from the audience grow more
intense after each song. During the lull after a weary
opening version of "Back Door Man," Jim observes there's
"Lot's of trouble [equipment] here tonight," then
recites the poem "Adolf Hitler Is Alive" as if he were
filling the time. He follows rhythmically with "Lots of
trouble, lots of blues. Whole lot of nothing and nothing
to lose. All right!" People in the audience
continually shout "Remember Miami!" and call out requests for
Jim to take his clothes off, until the band breaks
into "Roadhouse Blues." The song gets off to a good
start and sounds like it might resuscitate the show,
but Morrison just doesn't seem to have his heart in
it. Tonight's version of "When the Music's Over" is
particularly dreadful. Morrison appears to be lost in another
world, preoccupied and depressed. During the central
passage he keeps making ludicrous noises into the mike
and then begins passing his microphone in front of
his monitors, effecting a long series of howling,
ear-piercing feedback that essentially butchers the song.
Afterward he apologizes, saying, "Thank you for your
patience. It takes a few songs to get warmed up; you know
what I'm talking about?" As the band prepares for
the "People Get Ready" jam, Jim continues to converse
with the audience. At one point he claims, "You know,
I haven't been to Seattle in about two years; And
good riddance they say [referring to this crowd]." The
audience corrects him, recalling last year's Seattle Pop
Festival, and he asks, "Was it a year ago?" As he remembers
that other unfortunate performance, he quotes the
Latin phrase, "Tempus fugit [Time flies], right?" with
a distinctly obscene mispronunciation on "fugit."
Jim then seeks to infuse some humor into the
situation with, "Well you know, driving into Seattle from
the airport... Seattle reminds you of a late 1930s
version of twenty years in the future. You know what I
mean?!" Some do and break into laughter, but the wry
reflection seems to go over many people's heads. The
"People Get Ready" jam falls apart when Jim, for whatever
reason, doesn't sing "Mystery Train," leaving the band to
carry on with the instrumental until Morrison
unexpectedly comes in with a passionless version of "Baby,
Please Don't Go." The jam temporarily comes to a
standstill until "Mystery Train" is started again, but the
songs are decidedly unenthusiastic. The show begins
to improve with "Someday Soon," an unreleased song
about the inevitability of death that is in retrospect
ominously appropriate. During their finale of "The End,"
the power is abruptly cut off and the house lights
turned on. The Doors began at 10:20 and were to have
been done by midnight. At 12:05, the concert is
abruptly terminated and one of the stage hands leads
Morrison offstage
Doors On The Road

Opening song for the concert was "Back Door Man/Love Hides" which had some really great guitar licks that Robbie played. Aside from the "Alabama" medley that is heard on "Absolutely Live", this is the only other recorded live performance to date which includes "Love Hides", a rarity for most Doors collectors. Jim paused for a brief moment
"A lot of trouble here tonight. A lot of elect...trouble...problems."; Jim was probably referring to the electrical problems that his microphone was experiencing that night. Jim was fairly wasted that night.
"Adolph Hitler is still alive. I slept with her last night. Come out from your behind that fake moustache Adolph, I know you’re in there."
"Jim knock it off, OK ?"; said Ray or one of the roadies who were trying to stop Jim from rambling drunkenly. Jim being "Jim", continued to talk to his audience.

"Lots of trouble, lots of blues.....whole lot of nothing and nothing and nothing to lose, all right.". The crowd was still waiting for Jim to quit his to start singing.

"Remember Miami ! "; a girl from the audience shouted out.
Jim pretended not to hear her cruel joke and asked the audience:
"What was that ? "

In the mean time Ray was warming up on his organ, making a horrible piercing sound.
"That’s a terrible way to talk."; Jim said.
Eventually Jim stopped his clowning around and The Doors opened up the show with "Roadhouse Blues". This version of "Roadhouse Blues" was a fairly sloppy and an effortless performance on Jim’s behalf - his lyrical improvisations between the first and second verse were quite gutless in comparison to some of his other shows.

"Hey, hey, hey, HEY ! Give the singer some. "

Jim told his audience, before moving into a rather boring 20 minute version of "When The Music’s Over", which had just dragged on for far too long. During "When The Music’ Over", Jim was still clowning around as he was making guitar wailing sounds with his voice and causing annoying feedback noises with his microphone.
Not just annoying for the audience, but Jim’s childish and drunken behaviour also took their toll on their group as well.
According to Riordan & Prochnicky (1991), John Densmore who was sitting next to Vince Treanor, (The Doors Equipment Manager), turned around to Vince and hit Vince with his drumstick. John had finally snapped and said:

"Make him stop it !"
"I can’t make him stop it unless I shut the mike off and then who knows what the hell he’ll do"; Vince had replied and rightly so.

After all, Vince and The Doors had seen what Jim could do if one was to pull the plug on his mike. The Doors didn’t want too see Jim repeat one of his tantrums, as he did earlier in the same year in April when the management at the Boston Arena had cut the power to The Door’s equipment - nor did they want to jeopardise any other future concert dates that were planned for their 1970 Tour.

At the end of Jim’s clown like behaviour he thanked his audience.

The crowd was yelling out for "Light My Fire" but Jim decided to take up a slower number. Just as he began to sing the first few lines of this song, a female audience member had rudely interrupted Jim’s rendition and shouted:

"Let Krieger do something"; quickly enough though, another male audience member replied:

"Shut the hell up !" which raised a few laughs amongst the audience. Jim sarcastically added to this guy’s reply:

"An angel from the wings"

Although Jim was drunk, his voice seemed to suit this slow bluesy number and told the audience;

"When I was a kid we used to put pennies on the track and watch them smash."

The band slowly started to build up to a superb version of "Mystery Train" that went on for 20 minutes. Ray’s solo was quite lively and Robbie’s guitar lead break also drifted into an eerie "Away in India". Jim finished this medley with "Cross-roads" and went onto play "Break On Through"

The group played one of their new songs, "Someday Soon" which was never recorded in the studio. Afterwards Jim seemed somewhat apologetic towards his audience and possibly trying to make up for his poor performance;
"Thank you for your patience. You know, it takes aah..a few songs to get warmed up. You know what I’m talking about ? All right."
A Dionysian Experience.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

August 3rd 1968: Cleveland Public Auditorium, Ohio.
After a prolonged delay, announcements are made
for upcoming shows featuring Janis Joplin, Jimi
Hendrix, and Country Joe and the Fish. As the introduction
finishes, the Doors begin a driving instrumental jam on
"Break on Through," but there is still no sign of Jim
Morrison. As the instrumental comes to a close, an
extremely intoxicated Morrison saunters onstage grasping a
bottle of whiskey in one hand, while he flips off the
audience with the other. At points during the show he is
clearly incoherent and seems compelled to converse
endlessly with the audience. The formidable influence of
the previous night's performance at the Singer Bowl
carries over into Cleveland, where the Doors put on such
an outrageous show it comes close to the Miami
fiasco that will take place in March 1969. The band
starts the standard "Break on Through" and Morrison
shouts and grunts throughout the song while Krieger
seems to be enthralled at the increasingly bizarre
feedback squealing out of his guitar amp. Toward the end
of "Back Door Man," Jim appears to be perplexed and
the band is rapidly becoming louder and so discordant
that it is almost impossible to discern which song is
being performed. As the medley goes into "Five to One,"
it becomes apparent that Morrison can't hear his own
monitor as he angrily barks "I can't hear myself! I'm
going to get a gun and kill some people! I want to hear
my little voice!" Jim then begins to direct the
band to "Play real soft. Softer. Softer!" until the
music comes to a complete standstill. For a full five
minutes he mischievously engages in a dialogue with the
audience, eliciting frequent laughter and applause.
Responding to an audience member, "You've got a real dirty
mind don't you! FAWK! [applause] Listen! I'm not
kidding. I want you to feel it! I want you to FEEL IT!"
Then the band quietly begins playing "Five to One"
again, while Jim continues his observations. "That
little cowgirl is lookin' reeeaal good! Later, later!"
He demands, "Listen here! You've got to feel it
right NOW!" and then returns to the lyrics from "Five
to One," but he sings the song so sluggishly that
the band is forced to stop and wait for him to catch
up. By the end of the piece, the music has
deteriorated into chaos, with the musicians all playing out of
tempo with each other, and Morrison growling out in the
chaos: "Get together one more time." The medley ends
and Morrison repeatedly states, "We're gonna have a
real good time, right?" "When the Music's Over"
starts, and Jim is still asking, "Well, what are we gonna
do now?" He's singing the song in a flat southern
accent, entirely missing his cue for "Until the end!"
Krieger then tears into an absolutely bizarre lead that
collapses into chaotic feedback at the end. At that point,
Morrison grabs the mike again: "Fine! You old fellows are gonna get it now! Yeah! Softer, you're getting softer. Softer. I want to tell you people a few things I don't think you know about!
"We're getting real soft now, come on! Softer,
baby. Softer, baby. Softer, baby. Gotta feel it inside.
Take it deep inside!" The audience begins laughing and
Krieger applies massive echo to his guitar. "Hey Listen!
I want to give you a history of me!" Jim continues,
"All right! I have a few things to say if you don't
mind.... I don't know how I got here! But I did!" He then
recites "Vast Radiant Beach," and Krieger follows him
with some wild echo set on such long delay that it is
impossible to tell what he is playing. Almost incoherently, Jim recites "The Royal Sperm" and continues with "You know we want it and we're gonna get it. Speak up, I can't hear you! What are we gonna get? We're gonna get everything! We want it! We want it! We want it! We want it
more! We want it more! Hey, everybody take a real deep breath. We. We want. We want all. We want all. We wantn all! You ready? You ready? You ready? We want the world and we WANT IT NOW!" At this, the entire band bursts into an incredibly loud and dissonant musical passage where each musician is playing completely out of
sync with the others. At the end of the song Morrison
laughingly says "Yeah! Lookin' real good!"
By now the concert is beyond any saving grace and the audience is getting precariously unruly. "Hey, what do you want to hear?" asks Jim, "One at a time, I can't hear you! Can anyone pass a Marlboro to me? They're the best! Come on
out to California and have some fun!" The band then
plays a rapid introduction to "Soul Kitchen." By this
time, Morrison is incoherent and Krieger covers him
with an extended guitar solo. Toward the conclusion of
the song, Jim leaves his microphone and does
something at which the audience bursts into applause, while
Manzarek unceasingly repeats the final stanzas of the
piece. When it seems as if the song will never reach a
conclusion, they finally break into "Light My Fire." By now
Morrison is in far worse shape than he will be at the
infamous Miami show, endlessly repeating "Come on! Come on!" throughout Ray's solo. As Krieger begins his
solo, Morrison screams at the top of his lungs: "You
know I can't take it! I CAN'T TAKE IT! Come on, yeah,
COME ON!" and then maniacally leaps into the crowd
with his microphone. Pandemonium erupts - the
screaming is so loud it effectively drowns out the band.
Several fights break out as Jim is carried along across
the hands of the audience, all the while diabolically
repeating "All right! Come on! DO IT!" He somehow arrives
back onstage and can barely finish the song, his voice
is breaking up so badly. Afterward, the Doors flee
the stage as the crowd explodes with chants of "Jim!
Jim! Jim!" When it appears that no one is going to
leave, the announcer gets onstage and implores them with
"Thanks very much for coming! Have a safe trip home! The Doors are on their way to Philadelphia!" There is
extensive damage to the venue's seating and adjacent
property. Following the performance, the clean-up crew
notes that the destruction is worse than when Jimi
Hendrix's performance sparked a near riot there on March 26th. The enormous hanging curtains in the auditorium have sustained numerous lacerations and even huge wooden doors have been torn off their hinges.
Doors On The Road

Last time they were here only 700 people showed up to see them perform, but this time The Doors pack the place with 9,200 screaming teenage kids. Jim is again in rare form tonight showing up well inebriated and mischevious. During "Light My Fire" he jumps completely off the stage well into the audience. The fans go crazy throwing chairs and punches as shirts are torn and mass hysteria breaks all around Jim. Order is somewhat restored and Jim ends the show by flinging himself to the stage lying motionless. A kid gets on stage and takes a photo of him bringing Jim back to life and he flings upward as being reborn. Later, as the crowd leaves, he appears back up onstage causing pandemonium as many were trying to then get back in to see what is going on.
Doors Interactive History

The Action House Long Beach, NY - June 16th 1967
Before the first Action House show. Jim Morrison reportedly instructs the
bartender to line up fifteen shots of Jack Daniel's and
then drinks them all, one after another, just prior to
taking the stage. As the show progresses, he consumes an
additional fifteen shots and clearly exhibits the
consequences. The club is exceptionally hot before the band
begins, and the stage continues to heat up as the show
wears on. Finally, as if in premonition of events to
come, Jim begins to disrobe during one song, but is
interrupted before he can achieve his ultimate goal.

The Action House, Long Beach, NY - June 17, 1967
Probably the
shortest Doors show ever. At the start of the show, Jim
Morrison places the microphone in his mouth and begins to
create "unearthly sounds" until the other band members
help him off stage. Because it is primarily a dance
club, the abbreviated show causes little
disturbance.
Doors On The Road

The Scene closes for three days during The Monterey Pop Festival and The Doors, who do not represent the peace and love image of the venue are overlooked and not invited.
Before the first show here Jim reportedly instructs the bartender to line up fifteen shots of Jack Daniel's, and then drinks them all, one after the other, just prior to taking the stage. As the show progresses Jim then asks the bartender to line up fifteen more and also drinks them.
Jim is soon extremely drunk and obviously begins to show the signs but before he passes out he attempts to disrobe onstage! The band intervenes and the show, near conclusion, is ended abruptly.
The next night, Sat. the 17th, is The Doors shortest performance ever! At the start of the show an extremely hung over Jim Morrison places the microphone in his mouth and begins to make awful groaning sounds for a long period of time until the other members help him, once again, off stage.
The Action House is primarily a dance club and the club's sound system soon takes over without much ado.
Doors Interactive History

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

August 12th 1967 Forest Hills, Queens NY
Though "Light My Fire" was number one, life was
not a bed of roses for The Doors. One of the first
thorns of big-time success came on August 12th at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York when the band opened for Simon and Garfunkel. Jac Holzman had played a tape of the band for Paul Simon maintaining that The Doors were going to be the biggest group in America. Simon agreed and allowed them to open at Forest Hills, but when he stopped by their dressing room to wish them luck Morrison was cool and distant. Onstage Jim had the same attitude and the thirteen thousand folk lovers in attendance were not the least impressed. "I don't think I ever felt worse on a stage then I did at
the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium," Ray Manzarek
recalls. "I didn't know whether I was playing Forest Hills
or Forest Lawn Cemetery. We were in hell. That was
one of the all-time lows." After the band's set,
Morrison walked offstage in a slump. He had been rejected
before, but that was in cheap bars that were mostly
devoid of real music lovers. This was thirteen thousand
people in Forest Hills Stadium. Danny Fields, Elektra's
Publicity Director, asked Morrison what was wrong and he said, "They hated it. They laughed at me." Fields said
later that Morrison was so angry he wanted to kill the
entire crowd.
Break On Through, James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky

Simon and Garfunkel headline the performance this
evening, and the choice of the Doors as the opening act is a musical mismatch. Their dark and foreboding music
makes a poor contrast to the more folk and
harmony-oriented duo. Simon and Garfunkel are enthusiastically
welcomed as local heroes, a "homegrown" success story,
with the duo having originally met and graduated from
Forest Hill's P.S. 164. This is a Simon and Garfunkel
audience, and they have no qualms about expressing their displeasure with the opening band.
The night is off to a
difficult start when the Doors' equipment flight fails to
arrive on time, and the band has to hustle to borrow
instruments. After an awkward delay, the Doors hit the stage to substantial applause, which rapidly declines into a pervasive silence. As the show begins, Morrison
stands staring out at the crowd, then hoarsely growls
"This is the end!" and the band launches into their
first number. The band plays exceptionally well,
especially considering the circumstances, but the audience response is nominal. They perform an abbreviated set of four songs, concluding with a striking version of "The End," and abruptly leave the stage after about a half hour. Paul Simon is so disturbed by the harsh reaction to The Doors that he takes the stage and reprimands the
audience for their animosity, describing how difficult the
music business can be for new groups. In the meantime,
The Doors have already left the scene, deeply
distressed by how callous the audience has been. Later, they will refer to this show as one of the all-time lows in their career.
New York's Variety reveals a subtle
animosity toward The Doors in a review of the Simon and Garfunkel show: "The opening slot on the show was held down by The Doors, an electronically rigged combo with a lead singer who goes into paroxysms of caterwauling every other number. Is it for real or is he doing it for the money?"
However, the Cash Box review is
substantially more generous in its appraisal of the band: "Not only was there a vibrant show for the ears due to the majestic artistry of each member of The Doors; but the eyes were given an antic performance by Morrison and others who were spotlighted in lengthy solos during 'Light My Fire,' in an extended playing of the team's number one outing. In spite of the overwhelming reception of 'Fire,' the team achieved new heights in their
follow up number that closed the act, 'The End.' Licks
by the organist, drummer, guitarist and lead showed
the throng that there is tremendous individual talent
as well as a mighty group sound behind the
Doors."
Forest Hills bears the dubious distinction of having
provided some of the most antagonistic audiences for rock performers in the 1960s. Bob Dylan's second performance with an "electric" band there on August 28, 1965 was met
with such raucous hostility that even his infamous
appearance at the Newport Folk Festival three days earlier pales in comparison. When the Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared there as the opening act for the Monkees just two months before The Doors show, the booing was so relentless that it prompted the Experience to abandon the tour.
The Doors On The Road, Greg Shaw

Nobody is here to see The Doors and the show is an absolute bust. This isn't there kind of crowd.Ý Nearly all the 13,000 in attendance are here to see the homegrown Simon and Garfunkel. The Doors only play four songs in a short 30 minute set in which they had to borrow equipment just to play because theirs did not show up as scheduled.
Later Ray refers to this evening as their worst show of all-time!
Doors Interactive History

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

20th October. 1967 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The entire performance is erratic and conflicts develop onstage over Jim's excessive drinking. As the band tune up an intoxicated Morrison begins to curse the crowd. Jim is in a sour mood having perhaps become disgusted when he realises the band has ben booked into what essentially is a frat scene. He sarcastically begins asking them what they want to hear and contemptiously suggests 'Louie, Louie'.
Finally one of the band discreetly asks if someone will help Jim out of the hall and promises that the band will return later.
Two men sandwich Morrison between them and essentially carry him down to the basement dressing room. Once there Morrison immediately snaps out of his intoxication lights up a large cigar and leans against one wall looking displeased. The other band members slowly file in and line up against the opposite wall. No one speaks. Meanwhile the local band that opened the show return and do a half hour set while Jim supposedly recuperates. When Morrison again takes the stage he begins to chant in a contempteous falsetto (described by Iggy Pop as his Betty Boop voice) Even the band is initially confused as to what he's doing. The startled audience don't know how to respond. When the band begin thier second number and Morrison spitefully continues to sing in his contorted falsetto there is no longer any doubt that he is antagonistically mocking them.
As the show wears on he purposely concentrates on obscure material unfamiliar to the Top 40 crowd who become increasingly restless and actually beging booing during the songs.
The band reacts with belittling insults and by telling them to 'go fuck themselves'. The crowd leave in droves. Toward the end of the show Densmore and Krieger leave the stage and the show concludes with Jim and Ray Manzarek performing an early version of Maggie McGill.
This show has become legendary as one of The Doors most calamitous performances. It succeeded in enraging many and inspiring a few. Iggy Pop promptly set out to form the Psychedelic Stooges after seeing the show.
from Doors On The Road

"What a disaster! Jim got drunk. John and Robby stormed off stage in a fit of pique. I played guitar until the football players...men of great bulk in thier black broadcloth....and thier diminutive dates in pink taffeta started booing and throwing paper cups of punch at the two stoners on stage playing John Lee Hooker Chicago blues. It was a total fiasco but Jim Osterburg was there and it changed his life. The sheer audacity and outrageousness of jim Morrison convinced 'Iggy Pop' that a life of anarchic rebellion was the only way to fly and he's been doing it ever since."
Ray Manzarek from 'Light My Fire'.

June 28th1968. La Playa Stadium, Santa Barbara. CA.
Accounts of this show are not very complimentary!
Doors On The Road

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

August 2nd 1968. Singer Bowl
Flushing Meadows Park, New York.



The Singer Bowl was basically an arena built from the remains of New York’s World Fair that was in existence during the 1930’s. The concert was a double bill and a crowd of 17,500 people had come to see both The Who and The Doors which had it’s problems right even before The Doors had started to play. The limousine driver had lost his way and got stuck in traffic and when The Doors finally made it to the venue, there were fans thumping the limousine.
As seen on the video "Soft Parade - A Retrospective", Jim had wandered through the arena and teenage kids were hanging around him while Jim tried to ignore them as he flicked through some magazines - even the photographers backstage clung to Morrison like parasites.
There may have been some tension between both bands as The Who had apparently refused to use the same equipment as The Doors.
The concert was running late as it was and to make things worse, a third act called Kangaroo was placed on the bill at the last minute and opened up the show. The disasters didn’t stop here as the revolving stage had stalled during The Who’s performance. The repair men couldn’t get the stalled stage fixed and the stage was stuck for good. This meant that 1/4 of the audience couldn’t see the remaining concert.

After The Who had played a fairly bad set and smashed up their equipment at the end of a their performance, The Doors had come on stage about half an hour later and started to play but without Jim. Finally after five minutes, Jim made it to the mike as he purposefully took his time to go on stage and was escorted by an entourage of security personnel.

The Doors started off with their medley, "Back Door Man/Five To One" but things were not settling down as the audience had difficulty seeing The Doors perform. As heard on the audience recording of this show, the crowd yelled out:

"Sit down ! Sit down ! Sit down !"

"Sit down you whore!", some one else offensively remarked.

"Sit down before I knock you down !", as one guy screamed to some one else.

"Yeah, anything you want" replied the other person.

"Come on you cunt !" the first guy took up his challenge and a scuffle broke out between the two.


The Doors played "Break On Through" and "When The Music’s Over". Jim recited some of his poems during "When The Music’s Over":

"Vast radiant beach
and a cool jewelled moon
couples naked
race down by its quiet side
and we laughed
like soft mad children
smug in the woolly cotton brains of infancy.

Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding
Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind

We leap the wall, dog and I
to hang choking on fence collar chain
Dogs lick shit
Mexican girl whore sucks my prick.

Open windows on the town
Open pores on foreign air.

The car rasps quiet.
Motor destroys itself on rotten fuel
The pump is ill.
The hose has a steel nozzle.

We . . . we want

Oh keeper of the royal sperm
Please feed the king
or the king will die"


After completing "When The Music’s Over", Jim then spoke.

"You got it ?"; whilst Robbie tuned in his guitar for the next song.

Jim then announced to the crowd:

"Never.. Never, performed before on public stage."

"Yeah", Jim added as he reasserted his statement to the crowd. The group then played "Wild Child" for the first time in front of a live audience.

Jim made it real difficult for the audience to see him perform on stage as he purposefully threw himself on the stage as he writhed and jerked around the floor like a man possessed - as seen on the video "A Feast Of Friends" and "Soft Parade - A Retrospective".

According to Elektra’s publicist, Danny Fields; "This was when he started to self-destruct. And he did it in public, turning the audience against him".

Reviews for this concert certainly did not receive any appraisals to say the least, particularly Robert Somms of the New York Free Press;

"I would characterize their current act as wearisome, exaggerated, repitious and puerile. To some that would indicate a lack of effort on my part. But Morrison (and he is the reason the Doors can walk off the stage of the singer Bowl after a casual set $25,000 richer) is basically bad theater and worse theatrics.

Beyond the grade-school prurience, the nauseating politicizing, the grotesque strut, the absurd ponts, the deliberate gestures, the unimaginative offering of himself, Morrison and the Doors aren’t just playing some songs or constructing a sound exciting or innovative in itself. They are victimized by the success of a pose they assumed."

The last song was "The End".
The riot really erupted when supposedly Jim had grabbed his crotch with both hands as he thrusted his body towards a girl in the front row and then made an obscene comment to her. It just so happened that the girl’s boyfriend was sitting next to her and he threw a chair at Jim and the crowd went berserk. Just after midnight when the Doors had finished playing "The End", Jim gave his final scream and fell onto the stage when 200 teenagers rushed onto the stage, throwing chair legs & chairs around and smashed up the equipment. Fifteen private police men couldn’t hold back the crowd and some even made it backstage and started bashing on the dressing room door. Jim was in the dressing room and trying to comfort a girl who had a cut on her face as a chair had been thrown at her.
The riot lasted for about an hour and by the end of it all 3 people were hospitalised for minor injuries and 2 arrests were made.
A Dionysian Experience.

The Doors headline with opening act The Who. Jim's limo driver gets lost before the show in the traffic of the crowd and the limo is mobbed by fans. Jim gets out and the fans go crazy grabbing his clothes and hair forcing items, necklaces, etc. into his hands. He finally makes it backstage and decides to take a walk around the arena. He gets 10 yards down the hallway and is swarmed by hundreds of fans and is forced to go backstage. The Who refuses to play with The Doors equipment on stage during their set. They get there way and go on but the rotating stage gets stuck and a quarter of the restless crowd cannot see the band furiating many of the audience. They finish the set smashing their equipment and the crowd is roaring. Pete Townsend walks off telling The Doors people that the crowd is ready to explode!
The Doors wait 30 minutes and finally take the stage with Jim waiting even longer as the others jam. Jim comes out swarmed by security and his film crew. The fans who cannot see begin to storm the stage and are thwarted back by security. Jim is animated and growls songs while dancing and gyrating, hopping and twirling in a shamanic tide often rapping obscenities during breaks and between songs. The crowd is hot and Jim is in rare form. The tension builds with each song, each chant, each movement. Jim and the audience are one. He feels there emotions boiling and slowly turns up the heat. Jim throws himself down on the stage and crawls around on his belly driven by the music, the crowd, and his demons. The Doors finish with "The End" and as Jim sings the last note, falling back on the stage, the crowd as if being pulled back like an arrow, as if on cue, suddenly erupt and thunderously rush the stage. The crowd overtakes the stage and begins smashing the bands equipment. The riot rages on for over an hour with the band backstage drinking. Many fans are injured, hospitalized or arrested.
Doors Interactive History

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Saturday July 15th 1967:Anaheim Convention Center - Anaheim, CA
The Doors play an early 3:00 p.m. show and a later show at 8:30 p.m. with The Jefferson Airplane. The evening show draws 8,500 people. Jim shows emotions of all kinds to the crowd. He is very loose on stage, off-key, hoarse and rambling whatever comes into his head between songs.He even throws lit cigarettes into the audience during this mischeivious performance showing the beginning of his sometime obvious disdain for his audience.

Friday December 8th 1967:Rensselaer Poly Institute Field House - Troy, NY
The only Doors gig that was known to have fallen on Jim's birthday was at a frat party in Rensseler Polytechnic Troy NY on Friday December 8th 1967.
The audience do not warm to The Doors who are frustrated with their reaction and do not play an encore and cut short the set then Morrison lets his frustration show with the mother of all audience put downs.
"If this is Troy. I’m with the Greeks"......
The next night he plays New Haven and makes history as the first rock performer to be arrested on stage.
Helluva birthday weekend for The Doors

Jim arrives late by limousine missing his plane in NYC. The band is not accepted well and the crowd doesn't want an encore. Jim is depressed and doesn't return to NYC on the plane but opts to take the limo 150 miles back alone.

Saturday December 9th 1967:New Haven Arena CT
Jim meets a local 18 year old co-ed from nearby Southern Connecticut State and they start making out in a backstage shower stall. A police officer interrupts them and orders them out of the stall. Jim defies the cop, who thinks Jim is a hippie who snuck backstage, and eventually gets maced in the face. Jim screams in pain running towards the dressing room. Bill Siddons arrives and explains everything to the cop. The officer apologizes and Jim soon recovers taking the police lined stage. During the last song of the evening, "Back Door Man", Jim tells the story of the backstage episode and starts taunting the police and baiting the crowd. The auditorium lights are switched on. Soon policemen surround Jim and drag him off the stage brutally arresting him. The crowd riots leaving the venue in disarray and many are arrested.Jim is the first rock star to be arrested on stage.ÝJim is charged with "breach of peace, resisting arrest and indecent or immoral exhibition". Hours later about 80 protestors gather at the police station in demonstration and more arrests are made. Jim is released around 2:00 A.M. on a bail bond of $1,500.00. Trial is set for January.

Saturday May 25th 1968: Lagoon Park Patio Gardens - Farmington, Salt Lake City, UT
The Doors play an early and late show to very sparse and unexpectedly small audiences. During the first show Jim asks the crowd - "Where the hell is everyone" and later "Are you all dead out there? What did you come here for anyway?".
The Doors only play four songs in the early show and the late show is just as disappointing. People even began to leave during the first show after Jim challenged them to show a little enthusiasm. During "When The Music's Over", Jim even expounds on the line "We're getting tired of hangin' around" in the early show. This is the second time The Doors played Salt Lake City - Farmington, and their last!

Saturday December 14th: L.A. Forum Inglewood, CA
(Jim's brother Andy is in attendence)
Providing a fitting end to their tremendously successful year on the outside and terrible year on the inside, The Doors fill the stage with 32 amplifiers, a string sextet, and a full brass section playing mostly new songs from The Soft Parade to a stunned audience of over 18,000 who only want to hear "Light My Fire". The audience has been booing every opening act horribly off the stage awaiting The Doors to sing their most popular songs. During their show, the band reluctantly gives in and plays "Light My Fire" but afterwards the audience begins chanting 'again, again'. They want The Doors to play the damn song again! Jim has all he can take and chastises the crowd. Only a year ago he was playing to at most 3,500 fans and had the control. Now, the crowds were beginning to call the shots and he is sick of it all.
In defiance, in L.A., he walks to the front of the stage sits down and recites the entire 133 line Celebration of the Lizardin front of 18,000 - mostly teenagers! When it ends he glares at the audience, no words need spoken, and walks off the stage to almost no ovation. The backstage atmosphere is that of a funeral and later Jim plays kick the can with his brother Andy and Pam in the parking lot on the way home. Jim is becoming increasingly bummed out by audiences expectations of him. It will all culminate in a few months . . . . in Miami. Also performing but getting terribly booed off the stage: Jerry Lee Lewis, Sweetwater, Tzon Yen Luie (Japanese Koto player)

"I don't know what will happen. I guess we'll continue like this for a while. Then to get our vitality back, maybe we'll have to get out of the whole business. Maybe we'll all go to an island by ourselves and start creating again." Jim interviewed the afternoon of the Forum show

Saturday Mar. 1st: Dinner Key Auditorium - Coconut Grove, Miami, FL....oops!

The Dinner Key is a converted seaplane hanger with rafters and a rickety old stage. The University of Miami originally wanted to hold the event at the Convention Hall but Ken and Jim Collier of Three Image Productions offer the band more money to play the hangar. This show is for the students who when polled by the school newspaper, The Hurricane, overwhelmingly chose The Doors as the band they would most like to see.
The hall is designed to hold 7,000 and the official count for the show was over 12,000, almost double the capacity! (not counting the hundreds who crawled in second floor windows after scaling the walls) The promoters took out the chairs in the hall in an attempt to cram more people in and make more money for themselves and this upset the manager of The Doors, Bill Siddons, who was guaranteed $25,000 based on the hall having a $42,000 maximum but was not given a percentage deal as the promoters took in over $75,000. They had upped the scale without upping The Doors fee. Arguments go on for over an hour while all await Jim's arrival. Ultimately, Siddons considers taking the equipment off the stage and not playing at all!

"We had one guy stationed at every door and we had thirteen thousand people in that building and that didn't include the people who got in when my guys were thrown off the door. You ever seen sardines in a can? They have a lot of room compared to what that place was like that night." - Bill Siddons, Doors Manager

"When Siddons reminded the promoters that this wasn't in the contract the promoters said, 'What are you gonna do about it?' Bill threatened to take the equipment and leave and the promoter said, 'You think you're gonna get this equipment outta here? You're gonna play this show.' Here's the band's brand-new equipment and a hall full of shouting people and the promoter is holding a gun to our heads." - Vince Treanor, Doors Technician/ Road Manager

The Miami Incident Thread
newdoorstalk.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1103733321

Doors Interactive History

[stuart]

To Me the Seattle 70 Gig is THE worst i have heard them play, boooooooooooringggggggggggg just didnt excite me. WTMO is a shadow of what it usually is with Jim's antics

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors Live @ The Isle Of Wight Music Festival
East Afton Farm, August 29, 1970.



The Doors attended this festival more because of their financial situation, as the group never really liked playing at out-door venues in front of thousands of people whom they could not see let alone hear. The Doors had their fair share of bad acoustic experiences playing at out door venues, such as the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Madison Square Garden in New York and Varsity Stadium in Toronto and they knew to well what the outcome of this concert would be like. The Doors came on stage at around midnight, right after Emerson-Lake-Palmer who made their debut performance and played a fairly good set.

"It is officially reported that over a half a million people have come to the Isle Of Wight for this festival. One of the reason ... one of the reasons, ladies and gentlemen is on the stage now. Please welcome, The Doors ! " ; announced M.C, Rikki Farr.

The Doors opened up with a pretty gutsy version of "Back Door Man" and was followed by an energetic sounding version of "Break On Through", which has a similar musical/lyrical arrangement to the version that appears on Elektra’s "Absolutely Live" album.

Morrison gave out his blood curling screams and Krieger played his snake like slithering guitar sound during the group’s next number, "When The Music’s Over".

The Doors had decided to play two songs, "Ship Of Fools" and "Roadhouse Blues" from their latest album at the time, "Morrison Hotel". Ray Manzarek had played an extended improvised organ solo during "Ship Of Fools". Krieger’s guitar playing during his instrumental break on "Ship Of Fools" had veered off from the style and progression that one would hear on the studio version of the same song. Right at the end of this song, Morrison had borrowed a line from "Land Ho !" as he sang;

"Laaaaaaa-nd, Land Ho ! Laaaaaaa-nd, Land Ho !"

Unlike the audience recording, the recently released soundboard recording of this concert also included "Roadhouse Blues".

Following "Roadhouse Blues", "Light My Fire" was played with some rather interesting extended solos by Ray and Robbie.

The group finished their set with their beautifully haunting masterpiece, "The End". This particular version of "The End" also included "Across The Sea", "Away In India", "Cross-roads" and surprisingly "Wake Up". "Wake Up" was not usually inserted within "The End" - but seeing Jim didn’t prelude "Light My Fire" with "Wake Up" as he normally would, on this occasion he took the opportunity and blended it in seamlessly.

Following The Doors set was The Who, who had also played a good set and were well received by the audience.
Those who witnessed this concert, weren’t really impressed with Jim’s performance as for most part of the concert he just stood at the microphone and didn’t move around much.

Some reviews for The Doors performance were rather negative and highly critical;

"The Doors were abysmal. Since watching them drag their weary way through that embarrassing set, people I’ve rapped to often tell me what I missed and how good Manzarek was and how well they did Light my Fire and how foxy Morrison looked. It must be fucking hard work for people who dug the band in the past to keep those pretty illusions floating around. They were bored and apathetic, to them it was just another gig to keep their charisma going; but this time they blew it." (Coleman, John. "IOW 70: The Music". Friends, October 2, 1970.)

Other reviews were a little more "forgiving" and not as harsh;

"For nearly everyone it was the very first time that they had ever seen the legendary Jim Morrison. Whether he lived up to their expectations we’ll never know, nevertheless both he and the Doors were given a resounding welcome (writes Roy Carr). Having seen the Doors on a number of occasions, I can report that this was a good, if somewhat subdued, performance which consisted mainly of songs from their three-year old first album. A bearded Morrison was just content to stand quite still and deliver his rather sombre songs, while organist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore provide an equally sinister backing. The Doors music is a very acquired taste, but it seems that it is liked by many." (Carr, Roy. "Yes, There Was Music Too !". New Musical Express, September 5, 1970.)

In Jim’s defence though, he was up for almost 36 hours straight without any sleep and was no doubt fatigued from jet lag. To top things off, Judge Goodman had changed the date for the Miami trial at the last minute, which forced The Doors to cancel the rest of their European Tour and return on the following Monday, August 31 to face the judge and jury - only to find out later that Judge Goodman had changed the date once again to Wednesday, September 2 !

This was The Doors’ second European Tour and also the last time Jim would perform outside of the States.

This was The Doors’ second European Tour and also the last time Jim would perform outside of the States - unfortunately, it was Jimi Hendrix’s last live performance.
A Dionysian Experience

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

State Fair Music Hall Dallas, Texas - December 11th, 1970.


The Doors were kind of wary about playing live, particularly after the concert at The Isle Of Wight Music Festival. However, the group did agree to go on the road for a small tour and play some of their newer material from the "L.A. Woman" sessions. Initially, it was only scheduled for The Doors to play one show in Dallas, however this show had sold out in advance and an additional 2,000 or 3,000 people had shown up. Promoter Rich Linnell had to schedule a second show on the same night to accommodate for the additional 2,000 - 3,000 that had turned up. The second show wasn’t a sell out, but did fill out about half to two thirds of the hall. Courtship were the opening act for the night.
"OOOwww you’re are funny";

someone in the audience had replied, which got some good laughs amongst other audience members. The crowd was sitting there, waiting for The Doors to take the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Doors !"; said the house announcer.

The Dallas audience cheered and applauded strongly. It had been over two years since The Doors played in Dallas, the last time they were in town was on July 9, 1968 were they played at the Memorial Auditorium. They were also scheduled for April 4, 1969 in Dallas, but this was cancelled due to the "Miami Incident" and the paranoia that followed amongst other concert promoters.

The Doors opened up their first set that night with "Love Her Madly". It was interesting to see how the lyrics of this song, when compared to the studio version of the same song were slightly different - instead of Jim singing the line: "Don’t you love her madly", as he does on the studio version, he actually sang "Do you love her madly" on the live version. Similarly, he replaced the word "Don’t" with "Do" in the live version. Overall, the verses and chorus fall in line with the studio version, however there is a long organ solo by Ray which is followed by Robbie’s guitar lead break towards the end of the song. As well as musical improvisations, Jim lyrically improvised on "Love Her Madly":

Maybe if, not for sure, no no
Maybe if, not for sure, no no
Maybe if, not for sure, no no

maybe, no, not for sure
maybe no, not for sure, no
maybe no, not for sure, maybe

oooooaaaah yeah
oooooaaaah yeah
oooooaaaah
yeah, oooooaaaah

Keep the faith....
Keep faith in, what you see aooh,
Keep faith in, what you see now,
Keep faith in, what you see aooh,

"Back Door Man", one of the group’s earlier songs which was a standard number for most part of their sets. Jim had changed one of the lines in the song and added:

... may not something I can’t for see

"Ship Of Fools" was one song that The Doors would consistently play as part of their 1970 Tour - however on this occasion, Ray’s organ solo sounded as if it had a strong hint of a "Jazzy" feel to it, sounding more like the jazzy-organ sound one would find on the album "L.A. Woman", rather than the "swanky-bluesy" piano sound that appeared on "Morrison Hotel". Jim had also borrowed a few lines from "Land Ho !" and chose to use these lines as the final closing verse during "Ship Of Fools":

"Well if I get my hands on a dollar bill,
drink my bottle and drink my fill, yeah
Well if I get my hands on a number two,
come back home and marry you, alright"

"Changeling" started off with Ray’s slow but strong driving bass line, Robbie sprinkled some "James Brown" guitar riffs on top, and later made use of the "wah-wah" pedal for most part of the song, something which The Doors had purposefully avoided (under Paul Rothchild’s instructions) during the hey day of the "wah-wah" pedal when it first came out.

"L.A Woman" was another highlight of this concert. Like the other two songs from the "L.A. Woman" sessions, this was the first time the audience would hear this song and the only live recording that is available of this song. The new songs from the "L.A. Woman" recording sessions that The Doors had played on this night, are very interesting to compare listen to those off the album, "L.A. Woman".

Musically, the group had to work a little harder live than in the recording sessions, Ray placed more emphasis on his bass lines (as they were normally played by Jerry Scheff, Elvis Presley’s bass guitarist) and Robbie had to cover more area with his guitar work, taking up the rhythm sections (which were normally covered by Marc Benno) as well as playing lead guitar.
The group finished off with "When The Music’s Over" and once again, Jim had lyrically improvised the opening lines in a similar manner to the first set which the group played at The Roundhouse on September 6, 1968.

All my life a bright delusion,
all my world’s a torn circus,
all my mind comes tumbling down, yeah
Something wrong, something not quite right,
Something wrong, something not quite right,
Something wrong, something not quite right,
touch me baby, all through the night
all through the night

Generally the music and mood of the concert sounds fairly relaxed and listening to this audience recording, one would get the impression that the crowd really appreciated the group’s new material as well as their older material. The Doors received good reviews for their two sets in Dallas that night, once again proving that they still had what it takes. Only the first set was recorded and this included three songs from the soon to be released album, "L.A. Woman". Pat Pope of the Dallas News reported:

"Morrison has a vocal style similar to John Kay’s. Subtly aggressive, insinuating, it drones on, weaving itself around the band’s rock/blues. They can be soft or hard; they can mold the texture of a song smooth as glass only to smash it with one tremendous drumbeat -- "We Want the world and we want it...NOW !" Final chords crash upon the keyboard, across guitar strings, overstressing the instruments into electronic freakout. And it’s satisfying, an outgrowth of what’s gone before, rather than jarring, out of context.

Their performance was casual, informal. Morrison asked the audience what they wanted to hear and they told him. "Not all at once," and they took turns calling out numbers: "Land Ho !" "Turn Off the Light" ... No "Light My Fire and no encore was played, but the set was satisfying one that rounded out their music, giving it an electronic blues dimension that doesn’t come through as strongly on record."

Unfortunately, no tape of the second show has surfaced among collectors and we may never hear the only live performance of "Riders on the Storm".


The Warehouse New Orleans - December 12th, 1970.
Contrary to the triumphant Dallas concert, the following night’s performance at the Warehouse on 1820 Tchoupitoulas in New Orleans was a tragedy. Those who knew Jim as a person rather than a rock-star just saw him deteriorate on stage. Some say he was drunk and sick, others say that his spirit left him that night. Ray Manzarek described it as:

"Everyone who was there saw it, man. He lost all his energy about midway through the set. He hung on the microphone and it just slipped away. You could actually see it leave him. He was drained. Jim picked up the microphone stand and repeatedly bashed it into the stage, over and over until there was the sound of wood splintering. He threw the stand into the stunned audience, turned, and plopped down on the drum riser, sitting motionless. When I first met him, he was just full of energy, life, power and potency, and intellectual knowledge, and by the time it was over, he was drained and exhausted."
Jim's last concert at the Warehouse, New Orleans

Vince Treanor, had seen Jim hanging onto the mike whilst singing "Light My Fire", his last song on-stage. During Ray & Robbie’s solos, Jim had sat down in front of the drum riser and when it was his cue to sing, he just sat there. The group went through their musical cycle two to three times but Jim wouldn’t respond, he just sat there. Eventually Jim got up, after John had kicked and poked him and Morrison completed his singing rather lethargically. Jim had smashed the floor with the mike stand and walked off. John had cracked the shits and walked off stage, leaving Ray and Robbie on stage. The rest of the tour was cancelled as all three other members thought it was a good idea not to play live. This was Jim’s last performance.

New Orleans threads.....

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newdoorstalk.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1122851998

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